


Square One

by magicmissile (orphan_account)



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Emotional Distance, Gen, Growing Apart, Implied Relationships, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Relationships, Post-Episode: e067-069 Story and Song Parts 1-3, Spoilers, idk how to tag, if this needs any other tags just hmu, lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-28 02:22:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14439420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/magicmissile
Summary: now i'm back at square one and there's no turning backto what we were and what we hadthe IPRE crew struggle to reconnect.





	1. Davenport & Merle

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by square one by grandtheft

Davenport has a certain fondness for gardening, nowadays. 

The restless spirit of a starship captain still lingers in him, resurfacing as longing looks at the sky and restless nights that leave him cranky the next morning, but it's mostly settled through the intensive therapy that planting flowers and yanking up weeds has provided. 

And Merle's gardens have... a lot of weeds in them. 

The two of them are kneeling in the loamy soil of a flowerbed one day, tending to vivid pink petunias that are choking on the long, stringy stems. Merle has a few flowers tucked into his beard, and Davenport has one behind his ear, along with a smudge of dirt where the dwarf's fingers had brushed his temple, and the two of them are making good progress. 

Well. Davenport is. 

Merle is moving at a snail's pace, stopping constantly to wave away bees and clap dirt off of his gloves and complain about the sun in his eyes. He chatters while he works, contrary to Davenport's concentrated silence, talking about his kids (Mavis and Mookie are... a lot.) and his friends and Lucretia and the bar (Chesney's, ugh, honestly), and really, Davenport has kinda tuned him out at this point, eyes unfocusing as he tugs roots out of the ground without mercy.

Twelve years, he remembers suddenly. Twelve years, he was not flying; was not doing what he was born, created, destined to do. 

Instead, he was stuck at Lucretia's side, catering to her whims and wants, uttering only one goofy ass word to anyone and everyone. 

And now? He's _still_ grounded, kneeling in the middle of a flowerbed, pulling weed after weed after weed for his good friend Merle, who saw him (gods, actually _saw_ him!) during his stint as a butler. He's still got a few years left, he needs to sail; sky, space or sea, it wouldn't matter to him. The solid earth beneath him needs to fall away, and the spade in his hand could turn into the spoke of a wheel, and--

"Hey Dav? You okay?"

Merle's voice calls to him from across the flowerbed, diagonal to the left. Davenport startles out of his reverie, eyelids squeezing shut a few times as he recenters himself in reality. "Yeah," he says, wincing at the faint tremor in his voice. "I'm good." 

"You sure, bud?" Merle asks softly. "Were ya thinkin' again..?" 

"What? No, I wasn't.. thinkin'." Davenport shakes his head. "Definitely not." 

"Then... did you just forget what petunias and weeds look like?" 

Davenport looks down at the flowerbed, down at the pile of plants he's uprooted and the one he just yanked out of the soil, and feels his face fall at the sight of little pink blooms on the ends of the most recent ones. "Sorry, Merle," he apologizes, dropping the poor petunia in his hand with a little bit of effort. That 'thinkin'' he just fibbed about not doing has made his fingers feel stiff, like they're locked up at the joints. "Just.. got a little lost in thought." 

Merle offers him the hints of an understanding smile, revealed by the wrinkled corners of his eyes and the lifted ends of his moustache. "Ah, don't worry about it," he says, waving a hand. Davenport leans back with a grimace as crumbles of dirt fly off of his mud-caked glove and in his direction. "We'll just plant some new ones. I'll get Mavis to get some seeds at the market before Hecuba drops her off next weekend." 

His gaze turns warm on the crestfallen Davenport. "Come on, my man," he says, grunting as he pushes himself to his feet. "I think it's time for some lemonade." 

"But you've barely gotten any weeds, Merle," Davenport points out. 

"I think you've picked more than enough for the both of us, Dav," Merle says, pulling off his gloves and tossing them to the ground. He offers a newly glove-free hand to Davenport, and the gnomish captain takes it without hesitation, letting his friend pull him up. 

Their hands are a bit too slow to fall as Davenport straightens, dusting off the knees of his pants, and then they head inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments & kudos if u liked! thnx


	2. Lup & Magnus

Magnus and Lup were always good friends, from the start of their 100 years on the Starblaster.

They had always bonded over their similarities: where Magnus was bold and brash, always rushing in with his sword held high, Lup was right behind with her palms blazing with fire. Their adoration of spicy foods, opinions on pajama wear (underwear only; those who wear pants are heathens), passion for protecting their loved ones, and eye for neat weapons had always corraled them together. They even had equally raging, flaming swords of doom!, his poisonous, hers blazing. 

But. Now? They're... friends. 

Magnus opts to hang out with Carey and Killian most times, if Taako and Merle are already preoccupied. Lup's physical form is giving her some difficulties, having been infected by ' a cold' (like, what the fuck is that, right?), and spends most of her time in bed with Barry on one arm, Taako on the other. 

They don't hang out, just the two of them, anymore. 

One day, upon realizing that it's nine in the fucking morning, oh my god, Lup pulls herself from bed, away from her snoring, drooling Bluejeans boy, and gets up to go to the bathroom. The ground is cold under her feet, so she shivers and pushes her feet into Barry's slippers, pulling a spare blanket around her bare, spaghetti-strap-covered shoulders as she stands. 

After her pit stop, Lup faintly feels.. hungry. A snack, then, she decides, and shuffles out of the bedroom, heading into the kitchen with a few congested sniffles. Her ears pick up the sound of sizzling from something on the stove, and knows instantly that Taako must have been feeling restless, to be up so early. He usually sleeps until mid-afternoon, at best. 

Taako is still house-hunting, so soon after the Day of Story and Song, so him and occasionally Kravitz are residing with them until he scouts out his dream crib. Her fabulous baby-as-of-ten-minutes brother is standing at the stove, making what she recognizes is waffles (that is, pancakes transmuted into thicker pancakes with indents in them). 

What she also recognizes are people at the table: Kravitz, and Magnus. 

They're nursing cups of coffee, still steaming; undoubtedly wrangled from the stubborn machine by grumpy Taako hours before. Kravitz is holding a cube of sugar, prepared to drop it into his beverage when Lup walks in, and he pauses at the sight of her. 

"Er.. top.. of the morning," he says hesitantly. He's clearly trying to remember if he kept up his accent around her or not. 

"Oi there, guv," Lup replies, mimicking his accent lazily. She moves to stand next to Taako, who's flipping the waffle onto its uncooked side. Boldly plucking a strawberry from the bowl on the counter, she pops the whole thing in her mouth, leafs and all, and hums. "Hey there, Magnus." 

The human looks up from his own drink, and the bags under his eyes are stark, even with the darker tone of his skin. He actually has a plate in front of him, with half-eaten waffles that are drenched in syrup on it. "Hey, uh, Lup," he greets. "What's up?"

Lup's ear twitches as she catches the same hesitation in his voice that she heard in Kravitz's. 

"Uhh, nothin' much." She reaches for another strawberry, but Taako, too grumpy to even grace her with a word, smacks her hand away. Lup gestures to herself with another sniffle. "Got a, uh, fuckin' cold, so. Been sleeping a lot." 

"Oh, that sucks." Magnus grimaces, sympathetic. 

"Sure does, Maggie," Lup agrees. "These physical forms? Yeah, kinda aren't good when they're infected. Know what I mean?" 

"Yeah." Magnus uses the side of his fork to cut off some waffle, pushes it through a puddle of syrup, and eats it. Kravitz deposits another sugar into his coffee, having tasted it after the first one and grimaced at the bitterness. "Hope you feel better. Drink lots of fluids and stuff." 

Lup pulls the fleece wrap tighter around her shoulders. "I will, Mags, thanks." 

The kitchen falls into silence. Lup watches Magnus concentrate on eating, and wonders why the hell that conversation just then was stinted like they barely knew each other? 

An elbow nudges her arm. Lup's vision, which has been sliding slightly out of focus for several minutes now as she descends deeper into thought, snaps back into clarity, and she looks up at Taako, who's plating the waffles now. "Those for me?" she asks, pushing off of the counter. 

Her brother nods. "Sure are, homie," he answers, jerking his head as he carries them over to the table. "Agnes already had some before he left for, uh, fuckin' nerd school, Grim here politely declined, and Maggie is already digging in. You and Barold are the only people left." Taako places them down, along with another bottle of syrup that she didn't notice him pick up, then brushes his hands down his apron-covered torso. 

Kravitz stands with him, glancing at her and offering his chair to her. She begrudgingly takes it, since the one next to Magnus is filled with books and tomes. As an afterthought, she casts Mage Hand and grabs the bowl of strawberries on the counter and brings them over. 

Then, he and Taako leave the kitchen. 

As she quietly digs in, she can hear the sound of them idly talking as they make their way back to their room upstairs, down the hall from her's and Barry's. Lup's eyes dart up to Magnus, and she wants to say something to this tired-looking man seated across from her, but her mouth is full of waffles and her nose feels like she's never breathed in her life.

Magnus finishes his breakfast, wolfs down the waffles and chugs his coffee, and stands. "See ya, Lup," he says, offering her a small smile and a wave as he puts his dishes in the sink and turns to leave. And it's so weird, because nothing about Magnus Burnsides is small, especially his smiles. "Tell Taako and Kravitz that I'll visit again soon. And give Ango a hair ruffle for me." 

"..yeah, I will." Lup watches him leave, ears drooping as the door quietly clicks shut. 

She stares at the warm, fluffy waffles on her plate, the bowl of strawberries she Mage Hand-ed over, a few crumbs on the table left by Magnus, and the distant way he looked at her, and her appetite disappears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comment & kudos pls! :)


	3. Barry & Taako

"Will you accept this rose?" 

"I..." 

Barry's tired eyes widen from behind the panes of his glasses, his greasy, salt-covered finger frozen halfway up to his mouth as he watches the final contestant's expression on screen with a rising amount of anxiety. Her eyes dart between the bachelor's face and the flower he's presenting, and God, why do they have to drag this out every single time??

"I will," she says, reaching out to pluck the stem from his shaking fingers. "I will accept this rose." 

Heaving a sigh of relief, Barry tosses the potato chip into his mouth. The sound of his crunching covers the romantic music that swells as the bachelor and the winning contestant embrace. 

"You're such a nerd, Barold." 

At this time of day, there's nary a soul awake in the house. Lup is still deep in her trance for the night, and Taako should simply not be here this early. He should still be at his temporary house with Kravitz, doing whatever it is that they get up to, not coming over until about noon.

So when the elf's voice cuts into the tranquil quiet of his reality tv shows, Barry's soul nearly exits his physical form (again). 

"Taako!" he yelps, shoving the bag of chips underneath the pillow. They were bought with Barry's own private funds, hidden with care from his BBQ-tyrant girlfriend, and she will raise cain if she finds out. He sits up and looks over the back of the couch. "Wh-what's up, bud? It's like, 9 in the morning, why are you..?" 

Taako, who's leaning against the doorframe, waves a hand and straightens. "Relax, Barold, I already saw the chips. And heard 'em. Are those sour cream and onion?" He meanders over to the sofa and sits his ass on the back of the couch, then rolls around and slides down onto the cushions next to Barry. 

Barry glances down at the poorly-hidden bag. "Uhhh, they miiight be..?" 

Taako, without looking over at him, flicks his fingers. "Give 'em here." 

Barry warily eyes Taako's awaiting hand. "Or...?" 

"Or else every single crumb in that bag will be mysteriously transmuted into barbeque, and then what will Lup think when she inevitably sniffs out the snacks and finds you here, her very own husband, committing this snack adultery behind her back?" Taako doesn't look at him, stonily watching the confessionals play on screen. 

Icy fear seeps into his willpower, and Barry reluctantly pulls the bag of chips from beneath his throw blanket. Taako grabs the cellophane and cracks the bag open wider, reaching into the depths and pulling out an oblong-looking chip. Barry eyes it somewhat enviously, blinking with disbelief as Taako shoves the entire thing into his mouth without breaking a sweat. 

"So, uhh.. Taako." Desperate for conversation. That's what Barold is. "How's the school coming along?"

Taako side-eyes him. "Fabulously," he responds. "How's the, uh, reaper thing coming along?" 

"Our paperwork is still being processed." Barry almost reaches for his bag of chips, but Taako subtly moves them just out of reach. A little sting of irritation pricks at him, but he buries it away inside and retracts his outstretched arm. "We start training with Kravitz next week." 

At the mention of his partner's name, Taako hums, but says little else. 

Barry watches the outline of his face, tinged light by the television screen, and wonders. "Hey, Taako..?" 

"Yah?" 

"Are we.. good..?" 

Taako glances over at him, nothing but a slight tilt of the chin and flicker of the eyes to their corners, a brief rustle of the bangs hanging around his ears. His large, sloped nose twitches a little as Barry meets his gaze and holds it, and his mouth follows, the corners turning down a little. 

"Sure," he says, and elaborates no further than crunching down on another chip. Barry has the faint suspicion that the whole truth isn't being told, but it's seven in the morning, and he's still a little tired, so he doesn't elaborate either. 

"I'm.. glad," he replies, despite the knot of anxiety that twists in his chest. "Because I don't want us to be... bad." 

"Trust me, Barold." Taako stands suddenly, carrying the bag of chips with him. He shoves his arm in one last time, pulling out a handful of chips, then places the bag back down in the spot where he just was. "The last thing we are is 'bad'." 

"But... are we good?" 

His brother-in-law is silent for a minute. "Out of everyone in our motley crew," he says, after an agonizing wait that felt like forever, even though Barry knows that it was a few seconds, "you and I? We're probably the most good." He folds his arms. "At least, in my book we are." 

Barry lets out a relieved breath that he didn't know he was holding. He reaches for the chips, fingers grabbing the crinkling cellophane, but he stops. 

Taako is turning to leave, to go somewhere else like maybe back home or to see if Lup is awake (and safe, and there), but Barry holds out the bag before his back is turned. 

"Keep 'em," he says, a hesitant smile tugging at his lips. "I have more." 

Taako's eyes glance between the chips and his own, before his own arm reaches out. "Better keep those bad boys hidden, and hidden well as shit," he says. "Or else we won't be good, because Lup will brand us filthy traitors." 

"And that's no bueno," Barry agrees. 

Taako rolls the bag up, and places it into the Bag of Necessity that he habitually carries. "Thanks for the free munchies, my man." He exits the room, and Barry listens to his footsteps, hearing him walk down to his bedroom, crack the door open, enter, leave, leave the house through the kitchen with a jingle of the bells on the door. 

And Barry returns to his Bachelor reruns, feeling not quite good, but better than bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this ends the pre-written chapters i've done. probably should've planned better, but. meh
> 
> comment & kudos, pls! thnx


End file.
